April 17, 2008 –VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI personally accepted the gift of an automated external defibrillator (AED) from Gintaras Vaisnys and Fabio Rangoni, representatives of a U.S. defibrillator company.
Vaisnys and Rangoni met with the Pope at a recent papal audience where Vaisnys presented the AED while Rangoni explained to the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics how defibrillators can save victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
“Pope Benedict was genuinely interested and immediately grasped how a defibrillator can save lives,” Vaisnys said.
Vatican City is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations: approximately 17,000 visitors arrive each day to see St. Peter’s Square and Basilica, the Vatican Museums including the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Gardens and Grottos, and other attractions.
“Because so many people come to the Vatican each day, it’s an important place to have a defibrillator,” Vaisnys said. “It is very important that AEDs are located in areas frequented by many people—public areas, workplaces, airports, schools and churches, health clubs, hotels and so on.”
AED programs are increasingly common in places of worship in the U.S. and many lives have been saved as a result. Keith White, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, suffered SCA at a dinner celebrating his parish’s 60th anniversary. Fellow guests saved his life by responding with an AED. The parish had received the AED only 10 days earlier from an anonymous donor.